Misreported: U.K. Story of Somali Women and White Couple Altercation/Ruling
Online reports involving a domestic violence incident between British citizens Rhea Page, her boyfriend Lewis Moor, and Somali-British residents Ambaro Maxamed, Ayan Maxamed, Hibo Maxamed and Ifrah Nur have been disputed. Enough Coalition and Islam Phobia Watch, two groups monitoring events that perpetuate anti-Muslim sentiments, report that the British publications used weasel words and misreporting in relaying their case to the public.
According the the Crown Prosecution Service of Britain the Somali women, described by British publications as a “Muslim Gang”, were not charged with a racially aggravated offense.
The CPS reviewed all the evidence in this case, including whether a racially aggravated offense should be brought on the basis that the comment ‘white bitch’ was reported to have been heard during the incident. However, this racist comment could not be attributed to any particular suspect and was not adopted by the group as a whole. There was therefore no realistic prospect of conviction for a racially aggravated offense.
According to Islam Phobia Watch - “The case has been presented ‘by the Daily Mail, the Sun, the Leicester Mercury, the Telegraph and the Metro‘ as an example of double standards in the British legal system, which supposedly discriminates against the white majority population and in favour of Muslims and other minorities.” Furthermore, the presiding judge, Robert Brown, accepted the women may have felt they were the victims of unreasonable force from the victim’s partner.
In summary, the courts determined that there were no racial epithets communicated by the defendants and that they were not charged with any racial offense, simply assault and battery. However, the charges were dismissed as the parties agreed that Lewis Moore applied unreasonable force in the altercation by hitting Ifrah Nur in the face. Subsequently, the women were not dismissed of charges because they are Muslim. However, Islam Phobia Watch does admit that they can’t pinpoint the exact cause of the altercation. The women’s version of the story suggests that there was a verbal battle between Page and two of the Somali women prior to the assault. But Page describes the assault as out of the blue and unprovoked. Furthermore, the videos currently circulation the web are heavily edit and do not show the events that lead to the the attack.
FullFact.org investigated the case by calling the judicial office. They discovered that judgement was administered orally and that there is no written documentation of the ruling.
The reference to alcohol was made in mitigation by Gary Short, “They’re Somalian Muslims and alcohol or drugs isn’t something they’re used to”, and appears towards the end of the article. It is therefore written as a detail of the case rather than as a factor influencing the judgement.
The fact that the Metro’s headline claimed the women were freed simply because they were ‘not used to being drunk’ is an inaccurate reflection of the case.
Read the entire report here.
